Ryan Feltrin and Brandon Reinhart

Name: Ryan Feltrin
Title, Company: Programmer, Gray Matter
Feltrin's previous work: Kingpin
Current Project: Return to Castle Wolfenstein, based on the Quake 3 engine

FS: Now that details of the Microsoft X-Box are out in the open, what are your initial impressions?

Ryan: It sounds like a good system, with a strong financial backing. If they can invest that in a good marketing system, and target the right people, it should sell well, and provide the industry with a healthy injection of new consumers.

FS: What do you think are the advantages and disadvantages of developing for the X-Box as opposed to other consoles like the Playstation 2?

Ryan: Given that our current development suite is mostly Microsoft driven, I assume it should be an easy transition to X-Box development. I haven't had a chance to look at either the Dreamcast or PS2 dev systems, so I'm not in a good position to make comparisons.

FS: Would you consider developing games for the X-Box? Why or why not? What about the Playstation 2 or Nintendo Dolphin?

Ryan: I like the idea of developing for a fixed hardware spec, as I'm sure many other developers are. However, my biggest issue with console systems right now is that the controls simply don't suit first person shooters as well as the PC. The dual shock PSX controllers came as close as any, but still don't compare to the PC's reflex friendly mouse + keyboard combo.

I'm not in a hurry to move over to PS2 or Dolphin. On paper, they look good, and will sell in large quanities, but I'm more interested in making a game that plays well, rather than selling the most units. To this date, I'm yet to feel a part of a FPS on a console system. I believe the controls play a big part in the immersion level, and having an analogue stick just doesn't feel right to me.

This is where I'd like to see some intuitive design from Microsoft. The controller is such a vital part of the game, and I think unless they can develop something useful, like a dual trackball+stick controller, we'll continue to see the FPS genre overlooking the consol market. And lets face it, unless this controller is a part of the default system, it doesn't exist.

Name: Brandon Reinhart
Title, Company: Programmer, Epic Games
Company's previous work: Unreal Tournament

FS: Now that details of the Microsoft X-Box are out in the open, what are your initial impressions?

Brandon: I think its going to be really cool. The hardware features are impressive. The fact that there is a hard drive out of the box is very very cool.

FS: What do you think are the advantages and disadvantages of developing for the X-Box as opposed to other consoles like the Playstation 2?

Brandon: The X-Box will use a Windows 2000 kernel and will be supported by all of the popular Microsoft SDK's. This means that a PC developer will be working with a very familiar environment.

FS: We know you're already developing for Playstation 2. Would you consider developing games for the X-Box? Why or why not? What about the Nintendo Dolphin?

Brandon: Absolutely! Our next game will be available on the X-Box. We plan to have full interoperability between the PC and the X-Box (play on PC servers from the X-Box, etc). Epic feels that the Unreal Engine will be particularly strong on the X-Box. As for the Dolphin, we are interested in persuing a relationship with Nintendo, but do not have one at this time.